


A Merchant's Medicine

by luucarii



Series: Secondary Jobs [2]
Category: Octopath Traveler (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Medicine Making!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-10
Updated: 2018-09-08
Packaged: 2019-06-25 11:36:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15639957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luucarii/pseuds/luucarii
Summary: “Alright then, how about this?” Tressa suddenly stood up, hands firmly on her hips as a large grin creased her lips, “you teach me how to be an apothecary, I’ll sell the medicine and I’ll give you a portion of the profit.”“Tress, you don’t have to…”--In which Tressa decides to make a little deal with Alfyn to help them both out.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Apothecary!Tressa is adorable. That green hat is everything.

“Come to watch me again Tress?”

 

Alfyn titled his head off to the side and beamed a smile at the girl standing across from him. Tressa nodded quickly and darted her way to the empty seat beside him. It had been a growing hobby of hers to watch Alfyn anytime he was in the process of mixing together elixirs. The whole process was fascinating to her despite the fact she understood next to nothing on the subject. For weeks on end she had watched him slice up herbs, mash up nuts and leaves and somehow it would end up as a paste or liquid that could cure ailments during battle.

 

“What’re you making this time Alfyn?” She questioned peering over the empty bowl.

 

“I’m making some more Curative Balm.” Alfyn responded and immediately dug through his satchel, pulling out a few seeds and a few dark colored plants, “H’annit wanted me to make her some when she goes hunting.”

 

“Oh! That’s the poison one, right?” Tressa recalled the flavor. It tasted too bitter and after having tried it the first time she was poisoned in battle, she made doubly sure she would avoid any poisonous monsters out in the wild.

 

“You catch on quick.” Alfyn let out a chuckle and pulled out a pocket knife. With Tressa’s keen eye watching over him, he began to thinly slice the stem of the plants. He moved the plant under the light and a translucent glob began to spill out of the stem.

 

Tressa leaned over the plant and suddenly cringed, “why is it all gooey?”

 

“This is a Noxroot. It actually has a bit of poison inside the stem.” Alfyn began to scrape out the glob and pour it into the bowl.

 

“What? How the heck does it cure poison then?” Tressa pulled away and narrowed her eyes, “you better not be pulling a fast one on me Alfyn.”

 

“Relax, Tress.” Alfyn reassured her with a smile and Tressa recognized it as the smile he gave his patients while he worked on them. The smile that was fitting for such a proud apothecary.

 

He poured a few seeds into the bowl with the goop and reached over to grab a small pole. Tressa tilted her head in confusion before her eyes widened at the sight of Alfyn mashing together the ingredients. Despite how gruesome it seemed, Alfyn mixed the seeds and the Noxroot quite generously. He alternated on mashing them and mixing them and by the end, the concoction ended up resembling a purple colored paste.

 

“Grab me a jar, would ya Tress?”

 

Tressa nodded and reached over to pull out an empty glass jar from Alfyn’s satchel and Alfyn wasted no time in pouring the paste into the jar and sealing it shut. He looked up and thanked Tressa with a smile.

 

“Y’see, the Purifying Seed counters the poison in the Noxroot and turns it into an antidote.”

 

“Man, I dunno anything about that stuff but you could make some serious coin here Alfyn.” Tressa slipped back into her seat and crossed her arms.

 

“Yeah, but I don’t like chargin’ people. Some of them are on death’s door, I’d hate to suddenly ask for money after savin’ them.” Alfyn shrugged his shoulders and Tressa sighed.

 

“You’re nobel. That’s good, but Alfyn you’ve gone hungry a few nights _because_ you haven’t charged your patients.”

 

“I know…”

 

“Alright then, how about this?” Tressa suddenly stood up, hands firmly on her hips as a large grin creased her lips, “you teach me how to be an apothecary, I’ll sell the medicine and I’ll give you a portion of the profit.”

 

“Tress, you don’t have to…”

 

She leaned forward and giggled, “don’t worry about it Alfyn, it’ll be fun!”


	2. Chapter 2

“So, what’s our first lesson?” Tressa questioned, an excited grin on her lips as she held a small basket on her arm. Alfyn had asked her to hold the basket and follow him into the woods and it didn’t take much thought to guess what they were going to do.

 

“Don’t say that around Cyrus, y’know he won’t shut up.” Alfyn teased lightly and Tressa let out an awkward chuckle, scanning the area for a quick second to see if the scholar happened to overhear. Alfyn laughed a bit before pulling a small pocketknife out of his bag, “we’re going herb picking.”

 

“Ooh! What’re we looking for exactly?” Tressa narrowed her eyes to the mossy floor, reaching over to rip a small plant from the ground. Alfyn shook his head, chuckling at the fact she had picked up a thin weed.

 

“Addlewort and some Sleepweed. I figured you already watched me make Curative Balm so we could make some other antidotes.” Flinging his satchel over his shoulder, Alfyn led the way into the forest, Tressa a few footsteps behind him. She searched the ground, humming curiously at all the herbs they were seemingly passing. She didn’t want to ask and risk embarrassing herself again by pulling up a weed so she bit her tongue and continued to follow Alfyn.

 

“So Tress’” Alfyn began slowing down a bit so he could walk at her side, “how is this whole deal thing supposed to work? I dunno about you, but I don’t think I’ve got it cut out to be a merchant. Medicine’s all I know.”

 

“That’s _my_ job, Alfyn.” Tressa reassured him with a grin, “you’re teaching me how to make medicine and I’ll sell ‘em to our best customers.”

 

“Our best customers being…?”

 

“The travelers around the continent, of course!” Tressa trotted ahead proudly, hands on her hips. Alfyn seemed a bit unconvinced but continued to follow her. “Come on, we’re not the only adventures around here. And word travels fast! Sooner or later, the whole continent’ll know how amazing Alfyn’s Medicines are!”

 

“Really?” Alfyn chuckled almost sheepishly, scratching the side of his head and Tressa nodded with a giggle.

 

“Trust me Alf!”

 

He seemed a bit surprised by the use of his nickname, something nobody but Zeph used, and Tressa took notice of it immediately. She mumbled an apology and let him walk on ahead, still continuing her search of the herbs. Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to ask him to teach her medicine. She knew vaguely of Alfyn’s close friendship with Zeph, (something Therion had always teased him slyly about it being something more) and how they grew up learning concoctions together and healing patients. That was their thing and Tressa suddenly felt bad about invading his line of work.

 

Alfyn suddenly stopped in his tracks and bent down near the roots of a large tree. Tressa peered over his shoulder. A small smile creased his lips and he pulled out his pocket knife, cutting up a small brown plant from the ground. It had a thin stem and too many leaves to count but there was a particular scent from it that Tressa recognized faintly.

 

“Addlewort, when combined with a Purifying Seed, can be used to cure confusion. The smell is usually enough but sometimes you need to have the patient taste the antidote for it to take full effect. Usually I pick a couple stems just to be safe but I’ve never had to use them all.”

 

Tressa hummed, “it’ll be best to sell this one to groups of travelers or people in pairs. You can’t cure your own confusion after all. But if anyone traveling solo really wants it, I might have to raise the price a little bit.”

 

Alfyn didn’t respond, he simply continued on after stuffing the Addleword into his bag. Tressa frowned and followed after him, silently telling herself not to comment on their customers when they found the Sleepweed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vacation's over and I am BACK.
> 
> God it feels so good to write again!
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

“Come one, come all! Any travelers thinking of setting off on their journey can’t make it very far without some trusty Greengrass Medicine!”

 

With a table full of medicine jars in front of her stationed at the exit of Victors Hollow, Tressa excitedly called out to people on the streets of town. She had garnered a bit of a crowd when she had first set up and each of her customers were eager to ask about the medicine she was selling. Alfyn was seated behind her, trying his best to keep up a smile while the customers asked how he made the medicine. Tressa could see how exhausted he seemed and she hoped the crowds would thin up soon so she could close and let Alfyn rest in the inn.

 

But the more medicine they sold, the more customers seemed to appear. Tressa couldn’t remember the last time she had run out of inventory so quickly. By sunset, every jar was sold and Alfyn seemed to be ready to collapse. Just before Tressa was set to close up, she sent Alfyn back to the inn to rest. He argued, as she expected him too, but she firmly assured him that she was fine packing up on her own and Alfyn drowsily stumbled off toward the inn.

 

As she folded up the table, the money in her pocket felt unusually heavy. Tressa wouldn’t deny, today had been one of the best sales she had in weeks but there came an added guilt to it all. Alfyn was forced into a corner he wasn’t used to. Their customers would ask him what herbs he used in his antidotes and Alfyn would awkwardly respond before they offered to raise the price. Asking for payment seemed to be something Alfyn would never get used to doing.

 

Once everything was packed away, Tressa threw her bag over her shoulder and dragged herself to the inn, pondering how she was going to apologize to Alfyn. She figured it would be easiest to just get it over with quickly, saying a genuine “I’m sorry” and then awkwardly stomp up to her room. But then the thought of suddenly leaving after an apology began to stress her. With a grumble in her throat, she opened the door to the inn slowly.

 

The first thing she saw was Alfyn leaning down and for a split second, she worried he was hurt. It was only after stepping inside the inn and seeing a young child on the floor in front of Alfyn did Tressa begin to piece everything together. The child was a boy no older than the age of six, a man who seemed to be his father, leaning over Alfyn’s shoulder with restless concern wrinkled in his face.

 

“He’s always been sickly…but he’s warmer than usual. And then he suddenly collapsed…”

 

Alfyn let out a hum and in the corner of his eye, he spotted Tressa at the door. As he brought a hand to the boy’s forehead, he immediately waved for the merchant’s attention. Tressa perked up slightly and rushed to his side, kneeling down beside him.

 

“Tress’ it’s time for lesson two.”

 

“What? Wait, but I…”

 

“No time to talk about that now.” His eyes narrowed and Tressa knew then and there not to argue any farther. Gulping down her guilt, her expression hardened and she nodded firmly, “go in my bag and grab a Purifying Seed and a Grape Essence.”

 

It was hard not to trip on her own feet, Tressa wasn’t usually good at being under too much pressure. Alfyn's bag was on the table, slightly opened and inside she could see tiny cotton pouches and jars with herbs and seeds. Tressa had seen enough Purifying Seeds to know them just at the sight of the distinguishable green stem that went down the middle of the seed. The Grape Essence was something new to her but she assumed it would be easy to find and sure enough it was a small purple substance in a jar labeled “Grape Essence” just as she expected.

 

“Grab my mixing bowl and start mixing them up.” Alfyn ordered and Tressa nodded, heart pounding. Her original interest in apothecaries simply stemmed from the amount of money the medicines could sell for, especially high quality ones like Alfyn’s. Experiencing the profession for the first time like _this_ , Tressa didn’t know exactly how she felt about it.

 

Once the seed was mashed and mixed in with the essence, she rushed the bowl over to Alfyn and he eyed the concoction for a split second. He looked up at Tressa and gave her a smile, grabbing the bowl and slowly feeding the medicine through the boy’s mouth. The boy let out a sigh and Alfyn felt his forehead again.

 

“It’s starting to go down but he’ll get better once the medicine goes through his system.” Alfyn stood up, extending a hand for Tressa to take. She stood slowly, smiling to herself at how calm the child looked in his sleep. His father slowly pulled him into his arms and began to carry him up the stairs of the inn. It took a minute but the father reappeared downstairs with a small bag of coin.

 

“Thank you…Please, accept—“

 

“Go be with your son.” Alfyn shook his head, “he’ll need his father when he wakes.”

 

The father sighed and smiled gratefully before retreating upstairs.

 

Tressa awkwardly fiddled with her thumbs before Alfyn turned to face her.

 

“You did well for a newbie apothecary.”

 

Tressa pouted and Alfyn chuckled. She hesitated for a moment before finally working the courage to mumble,“…I’m sorry Alfyn. …Y’know, for selling your medicines and pushing you to do all this.”

 

“I know you were just trying to help me Tress. Don’t worry about it.” Alfyn smiled, stepping toward her and placing a hand on her head. She sighed and looked to her feet.

 

“It’s hard to watch sometimes… I mean, the nights Theri has to pay for your tavern bill, Prim treats you to lunch… We worry about you Alfyn…”

 

“Yeah, I know… And I’m sorry I make you guys worry.” He chuckled sheepishly, rubbing his neck.

 

“I guess I can see where you come from though. I wouldn’t have want to charge that guy for helping his son either.” Tressa said with a small giggle.

 

“Maybe we can try this whole deal thing again…but a little slower, if you don’t mind.” Alfyn snickered, outstretching a hand for her to shake. Tressa perked up and a large grin creased her lips. She took Alfyn’s hand eagerly and shook it firmly.

 

“Pleasure doing business with you! We’ll go as slow as you want Alfyn!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait on this last chapter but it's finished! 
> 
> Thank you for reading and hopefully the next fic in this series will be out soon!

**Author's Note:**

> And here begins the second fic in this mini series! 
> 
> Updates for this may be a bit slow considering I'm leaving on vacation but I wanted to at least get this out before I leave!
> 
> Thank you for reading!


End file.
